Burke’s book is unflinching, kind, vulnerable, heart-wrenching, and inspiring all at once. It is the story of her own childhood and the unspeakable things she’s had to endure. It’s the story of her work and activism in speaking up for others who have had to endure unspeakable things. Her work that is so much more than a hashtag and so much more than a moment in time.
She is vulnerable and open as she shares her own journey and her own learnings and moment of opening up as she does her activism. Her own journey with motherhood and all that it teaches her about being a mother and a person in the world. Her point about capacity and desire as a mother was a huge revelation for me as a mother.
The characters were each interesting and explored just enough to get to know them and their motivations and to leave room for intrigue and the possibility that there’s more going on than one might think. In fact, there were a few instances where I felt disappointed to find out that more ominous things weren’t going on with the characters.
This is definitely a plot-driven story about a married couple that go to see an ex-therapist who has a fool-proof ten-step method to “cure” her patients. As it is with these books, there’s more than meets the eye, of course.
There’s an ominous feel the whole time you read the book. Both of the characters who tell the story are jumpy and not comfortable in their skin so they constantly are on edge and so is the reader as a result.
Even though I guessed the ending a bit before it unraveled, I enjoyed reading every page of this book and i am confident others will, too.
with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I read and really enjoyed Doller’s “Float Plan” so I was excited to request “The Suite Spot” hoping it might be just as sweet.
I was not disappointed.
The Suite Spot is about the other Beck Sister, Rachel, and most of the story takes place on an island on Lake Erie which sounds and feels magical throughout this lovely story. The characters, the dialogue, the friendship and the love are sweet, kind, and just what you’d like to see in a romance novel.
It’s hard not to love these flawed and yet kind characters who grow and open up throughout the story and support and love each other.
My only complaint with the story is the beginning and the ending. It opens with what I think is an unnecessary scene where a complicated and triggering issue is introduced without really being handled at depth and also ends with another complicated issue that gets wrapped up too easily and magically. I didn’t think either were necessary to the story and did more to take away from the magic and depth of this lovely story than to add to it.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the time I spent with this story and loved being swept away into the magic of Rachel and Mason and their idyllic town.
with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
“Like homes, we also need to be taken care of as much as we can; and to have something live inside us in order for us to live. But regardless, in the end, we eventually go back to nature, back to death, submerged by the will of the earth. And, in our most earnest moments, maybe we are all just homes, burning, and love is the water that saves us. And maybe, love is that someone who still sees, in all the burned down brokenness of our house, the beauty in us—the stories and memories that we hold inside, and restores us and makes us home.”
This is the story of Michael Kabongo, a teacher in London. We see him in two timelines: when his plane is landing in San Francisco where he’s arrived with a few thousand dollars left to his name and he is determined to end his life once he runs out of money and when he’s in London in the past so we can see what his life used to look like.
In both lives, he is sad, lonely and depressed. And the story definitely has the atmosphere of that loneliness and the gray haze of depression.
“Not everyone seeks love, some seek quiet, seek peace. I slowly distanced myself from those around me and returned into the quiet where I had been all along. Where I long to be.”
The writing in this novel is beautiful. The metaphors are vivid and they stay with you long after the story is finished. You can see them come alive and take root.
And yet. the character development isn’t as strong. It’s hard to feel connected to Michael. It’s hard to truly understand him. Maybe because he’s so depressed, there’s a lack of intensity in most anything he does, except for a few scenes, it’s hard to see him feeling his feelings and thus it’s hard to feel much as a reader.
I found this to be a quick read despite the sad subject matter and the metaphors will stay with me for a long time.
“Inside me there is a man who lives in an abandoned city, and he walks around looking for company; another life, another soul, someone to touch, someone to hold. The city is endless, it has no limits, nothing to differentiate where it would end, or begin. Every day, this man wakes up and walks. He walks until his feet are blackened and burning like charcoal, until his limbs collapse into themselves and he can walk no more. Then he falls and lies there to rest—this man has no home. The next day, he wakes and walks again, and again, and again. But each day, he walks a little less than the day before, each day he gets a little more tired. This man knows it, feels it, that it’s only a matter of time until he can walk no more, and his only desire is to lie wherever he finds himself and sleep eternally.”
with gratitude to netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
“We so easily forget that accepting ourselves isn’t about reaching some final destination but is more about doing the deep work of slowing down, turning inward, and gently reintroducing yourself to parts of you that you were told you should fix.”
What a joy and gift this book was to read. Lisa Olivera is a kind and gentle voice throughout this book as she walks you through the journey of unpacking your own stories and finding your way back to yourself.
Lisa guides you to spend time seeing and understanding the stories you’re telling yourself so that you can put the distance you need between yourself and the stories and can see the distortion they cause in your life. This book doesn’t contain absolutes, quick fixes or easy answers.
“Looking for confirmation of our stories is a way of consistently validating the belief that they are true, which makes it really challenging to see things through a different lens. But once you start, you can look for proof of the opposite—and make room for the possibility that the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves are wrong.”
Instead it encourages you to look within yourself, ask yourself the questions and create room for the possibility that maybe your stories are not, in fact, truth. Maybe, just maybe, you are creating this lens that is not serving you and you might be able to let it go and choose a different way to see things. She gently pushes you to explore and question and make room for possibility.
“The truth is that unless we do that work internally, a relationship will only mirror the work we haven’t yet done within ourselves.”
This book is not a lecture. It’s an interactive experience. There are many questions at the end of each chapter, inviting you to participate in your own journey. Inviting you to explore. To dig deeper. To be willing to do the work. To show up for your own life.
It gently guides you through the steps of slowly coming back to yourself. Being who you are meant to be without all the distortion. Giving yourself what you need. Creating the version of you that feels most true to you. Reminding you that you get to choose. You always get to choose.
“The truth is that we get to choose who we are. We get to choose how we care for ourselves and how we show up in the world.”
with gratitude to netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
I am clearly in the minority on this one. I have read and loved many of Diane Chamberlain’s books but alas this one never connected with me until the very end.
This story is told in alternating timelines, one with Kayla, a single mom who lost her husband in a tragic accident recently, in present day and one with Ellie, an activist who enrolls in a program to help Black citizens register to vote, in 1965. I connected with Ellie a lot more, especially once she was in the program. But, for me, there was something off in the dialogue and the characters from the very beginning. The dialogue felt a little too over the top and disconnected from the characters. Usually with Chamberlain’s books, I find myself immersed in the characters’ world as if I am there living with them.
In this one, I could not feel that connection no matter how much I tried.
I kept reading because I knew their lives would intersect and I wanted to know how. And there’s a mystery at the root of the story that starts in page one, so I also wanted to see how it came together. Near the end, the story’s heartbreaking plotlines intersected and I was grateful I stuck with it. I think this was an important story to tell and I am glad I read it, but, to me, it is not one of her best.
I look forward to reading the next one.
with gratitude to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
We had parent-teacher conferences today and it was really wonderful to hear all the teachers had to say about the big boy.
But what was even more magical to see was how excited all of the teachers were to talk about the subject they teach and how excited they were to see how genuinely curious big boy is. The teachers all love teaching these kids and seeing them learn and think and grow.
When I moved to America one of my big dreams was for my kids to have an excellent education. To have their curiosity be met with excitement and encouragement.
Weekly Intention: My intent this week is to rest as much as i can and then to move through.
This month’s intention is:Yes to Connection: Reach out to others. Connect with your people. Make new connections. Say yes to more things.I didn’t end up doing enough of this for October. But that’s ok.
One way I will leap this week: just taking a vacation has been a leap.
One boundary I will set this week: i will take even more downtime, i seem to really need it.
One area where I will go deeper this week: still would like to do more art and journaling.
What do I need to sit with this week? understanding my feelings.
I am looking forward to: some serious downtime.
Focus onCore Desired Feelings (lighter, kinder, enough, magic, wild): feeling so much lighter and kinder. really grateful.
This week’s challenges: just staying with this quiet.
Top Goals:
Work: be present, go slow, don’t make up stories.
Personal: 2022, more journaling and art, find a class, exercise.
Family: climb with J, get david to do his class, find something for N, help the kids with school and J with work
This week, I want to remember: amazing how much can change in a minute.
It’s been raining cats and dogs all day today. I haven’t left the couch except to exercise.
Reading two lovely books simultaneously. Every time my mind interferes to remind me of something I have to get done, I acknowledge it, thank it and let it go.
